By Avery Ballmann | Staff Writer
The 11 a.m. kickoff for Baylor’s homecoming game against Kansas has shifted the plans of student and alumni organizations’ homecoming traditions.
Since ESPN chooses the game time organizations had short notice of the kickoff and resulting in last minute plans.
One of the groups affected is student government. Each year, the organization holds an alumni luncheon to reconnect, network with one another and communicate about bylaws. Because of the 11 a.m. kickoff, student government had to cancel its luncheon.
The Woodlands junior and External Vice President of student government Nick Madincea they were having trouble rescheduling due to the lack of space available on campus. “An early kickoff is proving to be nothing short of an extreme inconvenience to our schedule with it,” Madincea said. “So that’s been quite unfortunate.”
Madincea said he was able to participate in this student government tradition last year.
“It was a great opportunity to meet some of the StuGov legends, so to speak, and learn a lot about our bylaws and the way that they were written from inception,” Madincea said.
Richardson freshman and Director of Communications of the External VP Madi Cano has yet to experience this tradition.
“Going back to what Nick said how he experienced really learning from those in the past because student government, we are here serving Baylor as a whole,” Cano said. “And we’re learning from them, just so we can make a greater impact on the community.”
Another tradition affected by the early kickoff is the alumni tailgate. They’ve worked around an 11 a.m. kickoff before so instead of serving lunch, interim director of alumni engagement Heather Beck said they will serve breakfast and end the tailgate before the game. However, alumni now have to decide to either go to the parade or the tailgate.
“We understand and support that the homecoming parade is the primary draw for the Baylor family, but we will be ready to welcome them if they decide to stop by the Baylor alumni tailgate before the game starts,” Beck said.
Beck said most of the tailgate guests register in advance and have been notified of the early start time, and they have updated their web pages accordingly.
Baylor spokesperson Lori Fogleman said the alumni tailgate has been around for several years now, even after it was moved from Floyd Casey Stadium to Touchdown Alley.
Though the alumni tailgate has been structurally unaffected, the alumni wanting to attend will have to decide which events to go to. Student government being a smaller entity, suffered by canceling their event.
“The tailgate has certainly been one of our most popular events for alumni and their families before football games, home and away,” Fogleman said. “Whether kickoff is at 6 p.m. or 11 a.m., Baylor alumni of all years enjoy the opportunity to fellowship with one another over a meal, listen to the pregame tailgate show and get ready to cheer on the Bears.”
